We all know the stereotype of a broke college student. As a college student, you may often find yourself short on cash. You have to pay for books, classes, and your dorm, and you spend all your time studying. But you don’t have to be broke just because you’re in college.
As a student, you can do a lot more than deliver pizzas and work at fast food places to make money. With a little imagination and a tool called the internet, you can even make money without leaving your dorm room or apartment. Here are nine ways you can freelance from anywhere and make extra money.
How to Make Money Online as a College Student?
Freelance Writing
Don’t worry about your credentials or experience if you want to work as a freelance writer. You might think that to be a freelance writer, you need a lot of credentials or years of experience, but all you really need is a passion for writing! If you like to write, it’s easy to start.
Freelance writing is a great and flexible way for college students to make money. If you love writing and come up with ideas quickly, it’s one of the easiest ways to start making extra money.
A lot of freelance work is available online. To get started, you can sign up for sites like UpWork and Fiverr. Once you have a portfolio, you can use sites like Problogger and Freelance Writing Jobs to find freelance jobs.
You can also send your writing to publications on Medium and a number of online writing and blog sites. Then, if you get published on one of those sites, you can add it to your portfolio to get even more work.
Personal Blogging
Blogging is a great way to make extra money because you can do it whenever and wherever you want. This isn’t a quick and easy way to make money, but it is a way to build your own audience and write about things you’re interested in.
The best way to make money as a blogger is to write posts that your readers will find useful. For example, don’t just write about what you’ve done; talk about what you’ve learned and how it can help other people.
When you’re ready to start your blog, the next step is to choose a host for your website. Both HostGator and Bluehost are popular choices for bloggers who are just starting out.
Graphic Designer
If you are creative and good at graphic design, you could do design work for businesses and websites online. This could be anything from making small graphics for ads to remaking the whole site. If you are interested in graphic design but don’t have the right skills, you can sign up for free Graphic Design Basics courses on Skillshare.
You can start making money right away by entering design competitions on this website. If you win, you get paid. You can also get in touch with local small businesses. Tell them what you can do for them (business cards, branding, flyer design, etc.) and how you can help them get their name out there.
Show some of what you’ve done. Bloggers often hire freelance designers to make images for Pinterest and other social media sites. Send an email to your favorite bloggers or any blogging friends to see if they could use your new skills.
Proofreader
Proofreading is a pretty easy job as long as you can spot mistakes in grammar and punctuation. It’s one of the best online jobs for college students because you already use your proofreading skills in your classes by looking for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes.
It’s the last step before a piece of content is put out into the world. Interested? Check out Proofread Anywhere for free proofreading courses that last for seven days. Set up an online profile as a freelancer to start getting proofreading jobs.
Social Media Manager
If you already spend hours a week on social media, why not use some of that time to make money? Social media management is used by almost every business, and many need help with it.
So, they hire social media managers who work on their own to help build brand awareness by curating content, making connections with potential customers, and bringing in new leads. Your job is to be the company’s online voice.
Approach local businesses and tell them about your services to get started with social media marketing. First, reach out to the yoga studios, coffee shops, boutiques, and restaurants you already go to.
Next, think about which social media platforms you are most comfortable with and talk about how you can use them to grow your business and reach new customers. Lastly, try to grow your own social media following so you can show businesses that you know how to grow theirs too.
Virtual Assistant
Work as a Virtual assistant to make extra money on the side. This type of work can be anything from entering data and helping customers to write copy, reading emails, and email marketing.
How much you can charge as a virtual assistant depends on how skilled you are and how long you have been doing it. Virtual assistants are hired by businesses to do work that doesn’t need to be done in-house.
Check out this free course if you want to learn how to start. Make a list of the things you can do as a virtual assistant to get started. Then, make profiles on Zirtual and Virtual Assistant Network to start getting your first clients.
Search Engine Evaluator
Google doesn’t always do a great job. Because of this, it and other search engines rely on real people to tell them if their results are relevant and useful.
These kinds of online jobs for college students need people to do them. Most of them take between 10 and 30 hours per week, which is easy to fit into a busy college schedule.
Sites like Lionbridge and Appen can help you find work as a search engine evaluator.
Resume Writer
By going to some free workshops, you can learn how to make a resume that will get you the job. This can be a profitable side job if you use free tools to improve your skills, like this class on writing resumes on SkillShare.
Freelance sites like Upwork and Freelancer are the easiest way to start offering your resume writing services. You can also ask your friends who might be looking for a job or summer internship.
Web Developer
No matter what your major is, you can make money as a developer on the side. The Complete Web Developer Course on Udemy is a good place to start if you don’t have much experience. This course will teach you everything you need to know to start getting clients, and it can pay for itself in as little as a week.
You won’t be a professional coder after just one class, but you’ll have a solid foundation and the confidence to take on your first client. Web designers who are just starting out should start with smaller projects. As a way to learn web development, you could even work on websites that already exist instead of making new ones.
The most important things to learn are the most common coding languages (and WordPress) and how they work together to make a website. You can start by bidding on projects on PeoplePerHour, Upwork, and Freelancer. Web developers with skills are always in demand and can make a lot of money.
It doesn’t have to be hard or a chore to make extra money online. As a college student, you need to be able to work from anywhere and make money around your busy class schedule. Start by figuring out what you’re good at and what you’re interested in, then do some research to find a few options you might like. Want to learn more tips and tricks for doing well in college?
Also Read:
Comments are closed.